Do You Believe?
by Morganna Arrowood
Summary: Years after leaving Hogwarts, Hermione's gotten her life back in order. No more magic, no more Voldemort. But when she gets dragged back in all over again, she'll be forced to relive the moments she desperately wanted to forget.
1. Happy Together

**Title:** Do you Believe?

**Author:** Morganna Arrowood

REPOSTED: I took down this story when I didn't stay true to my word on updating. I finished the story now and will repost accordingly. The old one didn't get any farther than chapter 2 I believe…

**Rating:** PG-13 (T? I get confused) - mostly because there is a girl, who loves this guy..., or right - and things blow up. KABOOM!

**Summary in a Nutshell:** Seven years after leaving Hogwarts, Hermione's gotten her life back in order. No more magic, no more Voldemort. But when she gets dragged back in all over again, she'll be forced to re-live the moments that she most wanted to forget.

**Disclaimer:** As hard as I try, I'll never be JK Rowling. She's a genius, alas I am not. It all belongs to her.

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**Chapter One: Happy Together**

Seven long years had passed since she had heard the word spoken, since she had seen the people, since she believed it was real. She had spent too many years in a dream world and it was time to get on with her life. Magic was a part of her past that she had long chosen to forget. The wizarding world as she knew it was gone, and it was her fault. All this seemed correct in Hermione Granger's mind, but even she could not see how much magic was an integral part of her. Her mind had been made up as the last shot was fired. She never cared to hear the word "magic" as long as she lived. 

Twenty-four year old Hermione Granger was still as brainy as the seventeen-year-old student. That part of her could never change, even if she tried. The only proof she had of her teenage years was an old yellowed photograph of her, Ron, and Harry holding up large bags of sweets outside of Honeydukes. The photo did not move anymore. Ron's goofy smile would always be permanently plastered across his face as he reached over and put bunny ears on a scowling Hermione. Harry laughed behind them, his scar peering out through the mess of dark hair covering his forehead. The scar had started everything. Hermione had been the unfortunate one to finish it. She ran away from the wizarding world and never looked back.

Hermione anxiously attempted to tame her wild curls in order to look somewhat presentable. Today, her cousin Clara was to be married, and Hermione had promised to be in attendance for the special occasion. She carefully held the last of her curls in place as she reached to grab the can of hair spray.

Clara was two years younger and had always looked up to Hermione as a role model. She was actually the one who convinced Clara to take the job as a waitress two years ago. It was that day that Clara met Paul, a new customer to the little diner. He came back every Thursday to visit Clara at the restaurant. Paul was a marine biologist, who often took Clara out on the boat with him. He proposed to her about six months ago.

"Arrrrgggggh!" The tacky can of hairspray slipped out of Hermione's fingers and fell off the end of the dresser. Hermione tried to catch the can, but the sudden shift in weight caused her to fall of the chair and throw her arms out to break the fall. Hermione's nearly perfect bun spilled down once again over her shoulders into a sticky tangled mess.

"What's the matter, pumpkin?" A tall skinny man with dark hair neatly slicked back strolled into the room. Robert Meyers was Hermione's boyfriend of eight months. They met each other at an office picnic.

"Just my hair, I wanted to look nice for Clara's wedding, but it's a mess!" Hermione sighed and tried to brush the sticky mess back off of her face. Robert took the brush from her and tried to help with the untangling. Hermione decided to save time by applying her make-up while Robert busily tried to remove the pins embedded in her hair.

"We can get this fixed up in a minute." He tugged at a knot in her hair, causing Hermione to yelp and jab at her eye with the mascara wand. "I'm so sorry sweetheart!"

"It's not your fault." Hermione tried to remove the trailing black mascara line from the side of her face. "I guess I am just a little too anxious about the wedding."

"Why on earth are you anxious? They have known each other two years now. Clara and Paul are perfect for one another."

"I guess it's the fact that the wedding is actually today. I want the day to go perfect just as much as the next person. I am probably more nervous than the bride!" Hermione giggled nervously.

"Just calm down apple tart," Robert had a horrible habit of making up ridiculous pet names for Hermione. She always laughed at him when he did this, though a small part of her mind was thoroughly annoyed. "I can hardly imagine how nervous you will be on our wedding day. Paul is in love with Clara, he told me so himself. They are going to live a long, happy life together." He smiled down at her.

"I guess they are." She said quietly. Robert finished taking the pins out of her hair and brushing most of the knots out. Hermione twisted her hair into a knot behind her head and fastened it with a barrette. He gave her a peck on the forehead to keep from smudging that perfectly painted lipstick and walked downstairs.

"I'll meet you in the car." He called from the doorway. Hermione closed the door and slipped on the pale green dress she had picked out for the occasion. She finished applying her make-up and grabbed her high heels. She looked over the dresser to make sure she had not forgotten anything. The seventeen-year-old girl in the photograph stared up at her menacingly. Hermione picked up the photograph and noticed the image of the girl was fading. Hermione sighed loudly, and placed the picture frame facedown on the dresser.

The wedding was beautiful. Not that this fact was much surprise to Hermione considering she helped organize most of it. Hermione felt her job was to oversee and make sure everything was undeniably perfect for her cousin. Clara wore the most extravagant dress Hermione had ever seen. Paul looked exceptionally handsome in his tuxedo. The church sanctuary had been inundated with roses. The ceremony was like a dream, and the reception was simply perfect. Clara's vivid smile was contagious as her father toasted their happy life together.

"To the most charming and wonderful friend I've met. And we just so happen to be related on top of things. Fancy that?" Hermione raised her glass with the others at the table.

"To my wife," Paul said nervously. "The woman who has made all the difference in my life. If I hadn't gotten lost and asked for directions I would never have met this little lady. Clara I hope we have many happy years together." He smiled happily at the beaming bride.

"And to Paul – the one who has made it worth getting up every morning just to spend time with you." Clara answered. "The person who taught me how to scuba dive." Hermione giggled with a couple other people in the crowd. "The person who taught me to laugh again. I'll love you forever."

She looked incredibly happy as they cut the wedding cake, and as she danced with Paul across the floor.

Hermione was happy for her cousin; Clara and Paul would be happy together forever. She hoped that someday she would be happily married as well. Hermione went off daydreaming about her proposal. The proposal would take place in a beautiful garden. He would get down on one knee and present her with the wedding ring he had been saving his earnings for. She would happily accept and he would sweep her off her feet and take her home where they would immediately start organizing her fantasy wedding. (Organizing was still a hobby of Hermione's.) All of her family and friends from work would be at the wedding. They would be married in a picturesque church, its aisles covered with flowers and –

Hermione's train of thought was broken when something hit her square in the forehead. She caught the menacing object and rubbed her head.

"Carrot cake! You caught it!" Robert yelled excitedly. Hermione looked down at the object in her hands. She held a large bunch of flowers. She had caught the bouquet.

Work the next morning was hell on earth. Hermione had taken off Friday in order to make it to Clara's wedding. Monday morning, her desk was flooded with papers. Hermione Granger was an editor for a prestigious newspaper. She had stacks of articles that had to be looked over by three o'clock that afternoon. Marty Binns was a terrible speller, Hermione had to repeatedly change the word "there" to "their" or "they're" or add and extra p to "suposedly". She was becoming thoroughly frustrated after the seventeenth red mark she had put on the article. She was not hired to be a grammar teacher. She carelessly brushed a thick strand of hair off her face as she circled the word "melowierest" having no idea what the real word was supposed to be. There was a small knock on the partition wall that boxed in her cubicle.

"May I come in?" Robert stood in the doorway holding a bunch of wildflowers. Hermione looked up from behind a stack of papers and smiled. "I need to talk to you honey." That was probably the most normal name he had decided to use yet.

"Have a seat." There were no other chairs in the cubicle, so Robert perched himself upon a large stack of books in the corner next to the desk.

He cleared his throat loudly. "Hermione, I have been meaning to tell you this for a long time." He started. "Or I guess the proper statement would be 'to ask you this for a long time'." Robert was quite a perfectionist. Hermione was a bit of a perfectionist and a know-it-all herself.

Hermione stood up in her chair and walked over towards him. "What is it? We could go out to dinner tonight if you would like."

"It isn't that kind of question Hermione." He said sternly. "I have been thinking in my office all morning and decided now is as good a time as any."

"For what?"

"How would you like to marry me?" He said brightly thrusting the flowers at her face. Hermione's smile slowly faded as the words sunk in. He was proposing to her from on top of a stack of books in an office cubicle. And the question is supposed to be "Will you marry me?" not "How would you like to marry me?"

"Oh and I got a ring too." He reached into his pocket and grabbed a little case. He opened it revealing a simple gold ring, with a large diamond in the center. "Here you go." He tossed that over to her as well. What happened to the rose garden, and the ring that he saved all of his earnings for? The ring he gave her was gorgeous, but the proposal was all wrong. Hermione still stared at him, bewildered.

"Hermione? Ginger Snap? Are you going to answer?" Hermione could not make the words come out. She loved Robert, she always had, but something was preventing her from answering. "I knew it, my timing is horrible."

Hermione agreed totally but she did not want to admit it. She smiled weakly at him and put the ring on her finger.

"Hermione I want us to be happy together, just like Clara and Paul. Is it too soon to ask?"

"Of course not." Hermione grinned and held her hand to the light. "It's beautiful Robert. Of course I will marry you." He gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"I'll see you at three." He said cheerfully.

"See you." He walked out of the office and back to his cubicle.

That was not a proposal. Hermione did not know what to call it. It was like a typical work conversation at which one happened to carry flowers and diamond rings to. She picked up the stack of papers and one of the books that Robert was sitting on. She walked over to the empty cubicle next door. The nameplate read "Marty C. Binns". Hermione walked into the office, dumped the edited articles and a dictionary, and took a walk down the long hallway.

Seven years ago, she had given up her childish belief in magic. Those seven years did not stop her from dreaming. _Time to grow up Hermione. Reality is always disappointing.__

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**Authors Note**: The thing with the lines is really annoying me...I liked my old asterisks as dividers. meh - doesn't complain. Anywho, tell me what you think!

Violets are blue

Roses are red

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The Red Queen and all related trademarks are copyrighted and are being abused by this author. Don't complain visa, hitherto, and all those other great legalesque words. (Translation: don't sue me.)

V


	2. False Advertising

**Authors Note:** Giving you another chapter because I realized that first was not much in the way of plot. And I'm on vacation – which makes me cheery! Here's a little bit more for you - please read and review! A belated Happy Easter by the way – to everyone who celebrates.

**Disclaimer: **(sings to JKR) _Did I ever tell you you're my HERO? You're everything I wish I could be! And your characters do not belong to me, which is sad, and now I'll go cry somewhere..._ They're hers sniff and the song belongs to Bette Midler I think...I just did a google search and that's what I got.

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**Chapter Two: False Advertising**

Elizabeth and Daniel Granger were thrilled when they heard that their only daughter was engaged. Hermione let the proposal thing slide and set off to happily planning her wedding. Their wedding was going to be in August, and Hermione and Robert had already started planning everything, from the music, to the decorations, to the bridesmaid dresses. Everything was going to be absolutely perfect.

The last and best part was still yet to decide, Hermione's dress. Clara accompanied her to the dress shop downtown. They trudged down the snow-covered streets and passed a storefront window, the blank-faced mannequin modeling off one of the top designer dresses. Clara took her cousin by the arm and guided her through the doors as a little tingly bell sounded announcing their presence.

A short little middle-aged lady dressed in lavender greeted them at the door. "Welcome! Which one of you two is the bride to be?" Clara pointed to her cousin happily. "Oh, wonderful!" the lady seemed ready to burst with cheerfulness, lines forming around her eyes as she scrunched up her little face. "You just _have_ to look at these new designs that came in last weekend." Three seconds later and this lady was pushing Hermione down the first aisle of dresses towards some more mannequins. Hermione looked back at Clara mouthing the words "Help me", but Clara giggled and decided she was being ridiculous.

The lady brought her up to a model wearing a very extravagant dress, sparkle, tulle, beads, bows, all up to yuyuville. "This would look just charming don't you think?"

The dress looked like something a poorly drawn fairy tale character would wear. Or maybe it looked like the entire frill factory exploded onto the fabric. It was a beautiful dress, just so cluttered with extras. "How about something a little – er – plainer?"

"They sell burlap sacks at the farmers market down the road-"

"This one looks nice!" Clara called from across the room. Hermione pretended to be particularly interested and ran towards her cousin's voice. The lady stared irritated at this seemingly picky shopper and straightened out the froufrou dress. Hermione raced up the aisles to where Clara was standing holding a very simple yet elegant dress. It was pure white with thin delicate off the shoulder straps and small beading about the front. Hermione gasped when she saw it.

"Wow – I didn't know shopping with you was going to be so easy Hermione." Clara stared happily at her cousin. "Oh miss! I think we'll have this one for now. Can we set up an appointment for alterations?" Once everything was set, and they had bought the perfect shoes, the two walked happily out the door to the cute little stand belonging to a pair of young siblings selling hot chocolate.

"So how are things with you and Paul?" Hermione asked, placing some coins on the table before taking a sip of the hot chocolate. The two of them then turned and started heading back towards the house.

"Simply wonderful. I couldn't wait to get back from the cruise and back to the house to start our real lives together. It's a lot colder here now you know?"

"It's December Clara."

"I just know this is going to work, you know what I mean?"

"Yes of course! You and Paul are great for each other-"

"You and Robert are too you know." Clara responded as they walked up to the front porch. "Where is Robert by the way?"

"Inside I'll bet, his flight leaves in forty-five minutes, but he's always dawdling. He's supposed to go see some aunt of his." At this very moment her disheveled husband bolted out the door nearly knocking past the two young ladies. He held suitcases in both hands and a slice of toast in his mouth. Hermione grabbed the toast and gave him a quick kiss. "Have fun okay?"

"I'll try to. Auntie Susan tends to be a tad boring you know. I'll miss you. Sure you'll be okay here alone?"

"Positive - and Clara's right up the road."

"Okay Sweetpea, see you in a week!" He threw the suitcases into the trunk and straightened out his tie before speeding away towards the airport. Robert was going to visit his perfectly normal and boring aunt. Hermione relished the things that would appear "boring" to the average person. She loved being normal.

They walked into the house and Hermione quickly set the bag with the shoes down on the table as she got ready to make dinner. Clara took the green beans out of the fridge and got them ready for cooking. Hermione had just put a pot on the stove when they heard a loud _BANG_ from outside of the window. Hermione quickly pulled open the curtains. Nothing was there. She went back to cooking. Then it sounded again. _BANG_! She looked over just in time to see a gray blur smash a second time into her window.

"What on earth?" Clara ran towards the window. "I think it's a poor old owl Hermione." She opened the window to get a better look at the bird. "That's funny; I didn't think they came out during the day. Aww c'mere you poor thing." The bird obviously programmed with a very limited attention span came bolting towards the now opened window and into her kitchen, splaying feathers and squawking loudly as it smashed into the opposite wall. Clara rushed to the bird's aide. Hermione quickly snatched up a small piece of paper the bird seemed to have dropped.

"Oh my goodness!" Clara yelled. "It's hurt!"

"It's fine!" Hermione insisted. She walked over and prodded the bird gently with the opposite end of the wooden spoon she was still holding. The bird got up as if nothing happened and poked about the kitchen curiously. Then the bird went into "loop" mode and went back to flying straight towards Hermione. It remembered its task and wanted her to read the letter it had delivered. Hermione pulled the paper out quickly and used it as a shield to fend the owl from attacking her. Clara quickly caught interest in the ornately decorated envelope and stared at her cousin anxiously. Only then had Hermione taken a good look at the letter. It was small with the words "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" printed neatly on top. She felt the raised wax seal with her fingertips. What did they want now?

"What is it!" Clara was growing all the more anxious now.

"A letter, from – er – Auntie Susan. Too bad it just missed Robert by a few minutes."

"You'd better open it – just to make sure it isn't urgent. We could still catch him you know."

This was not the first letter they had sent her, but it was the first she had gotten anywhere near opening. The letters were becoming more frequent over the last couple of weeks. All others had gone straight from her hand to the wastebasket. Hermione wished she could be anywhere but here right now. Why would Hogwarts send her a letter? She did not graduate – she could not. To reprimand? To announce they were coming after her? To throw her into Azkaban –

"That's so cute that she sent that little letter by owl. Wouldn't that be rather far away though?" Clara seemed to be the little animal activist. She sat down at the table with the owl, petting it and rearranging its dopey looking feathers. "I know what it needs. A bow!"

"Spare the bird. And I'm sure it got to rest sometimes." Hermione carefully pulled open the seal on the envelope, mixed feelings of hate and curiosity seizing her. The message was nothing more than a few lines, carefully handwritten, and very formal.

_Ms. Hermione Granger,_

_Your presence is requested at Hogwarts immediately. An escort will be sent to meet you at Platform 9¾ tonight. A reply and your wand will be sufficient. Arrive as soon as possible. _

_Professor Minerva McGonagall_

She stared blankly at the paper for a few minutes. She did not live in the same house anymore. Maybe they had been tracking her down all this time. This could be the nice of way of saying, "We found you and you've floated yourself up a rather long creek without a paddle." Hell, why should McGonagall even mention bringing the wand? To seem noble and let me fight my death? But still the escort thing and all seemed almost desperate. Any which way, it did not matter, because Hermione Granger does not believe in magic – or stupid childish games – or spell casting – or –

"Hellooo! Earth to space-cadet - come in space cadet-" Hermione jerked her head up out of her deep encircling thoughts. "Anything important? We're running out of time you know."

"Nope, she just can't wait to see him." Hermione smiley feebly and tossed the letter into the garbage.

"Let's make dinner then!" Clara and Hermione set off to work.

Four nights after the owl had run into her kitchen window, Hermione found herself unable to sleep. It was twelve thirty at night as Hermione puttered around her kitchen, cup of coffee in one hand and a magazine in the other. She sat down on the couch and flipped through the channels uselessly. She had not received any more letters since missing her appointment at Kings Cross, but she did not care. It was still increasingly difficult to keep her mind off the ordeal. Meanwhile the TV garbled nonsense infomercials as she read her magazine by the crackling fire.

"_It slices! It dices! Watch as it chops this potato into fine little wedges-"_

"_Guaranteed to help you lose ten pounds in one week! On the amazing-"_

"_And the shirt comes out sparkling and clean. It's magic!"_

"No it isn't!" Hermione shouted idiotically at the television set, taking another sip of coffee. She flipped the channel again before settling onto some soap opera late night reruns. She set the magazine aside and became engrossed in the picture perfect world of Lola de Oliviera who just happened to have found her long lost brother who washed up from a shipwreck last Friday. This brother happens to be in love with her cousin, but does not know that they are related due to amnesia. Meanwhile her boyfriend Renaldo was having an affair with her sister. And this baby inexplicably arrived on their doorstep. But otherwise everything was perfect, and not a single hair was ever out of place.

"He's cheating on you dammit!" She bellowed at the TV set. "Don't you know that he could never love you!" She began to stuff her face with handfuls of popcorn that she popped during a commercial break. "And you could never find reliable childcare for your baby daughter Wynter. Oh why does Hollywood make up such stupid names for kids?"

"_I have always loved you Lola, you know that as well as anyone."_

"I bet her sister knows better!"

_"Of course. I will always love you for all eternity Renaldo. You are the only one I've ever loved."_

"He's a bastard I tell you. A BASTARD!" Just then a knock came at the door. Hermione leaped off sending little popcorn kernels soaring. She quickly got off the couch and turned off the TV set. Then she ran back to the couch and picked up the delicate little popcorn kernels out of the sofa. Then the bowl was rushed back to the kitchen, noting that it was now two thirty in the morning. The knock was louder now. She never had gotten changed from earlier, so she just straightened out what she had on before heading towards the door.

She unlatched the lock and pulled the door open as a gust of chilly winter air blew into the room, bringing with it plenty of snow flurries across her clean carpet. She looked outside but no one was to be seen. Just black sky, and white snowflakes. She shut the door and redid the latch tightly.

Just after she heard the clink of the latch, a noise came from the kitchen window. _Another damn owl gone nutters. _She went over to the kitchen if nothing more than for sympathy. Leaving a bird out in the cold would be a cruel and unusual punishment. She walked over to the window, but it was already open. Owls cannot open windows. _They are here. _

Hermione slammed the window shut and locked it. There was a steady fire going; they would have to be stupid to try to climb down the chimney. Hermione's new home was not in the Floo network, much to her relief. Then there was stumbling coming from the bedroom. Hermione ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

Honestly, just having a very large daunting weapon made her feel much safer. If she was to run into someone, she would never use it. "I'm armed!" She shouted. "Stay right where you are!" The thudding in the opposite room stopped. Her heart began racing like being in one of those suspense thriller type movies. Any second, her executioner would pop out of a closet, grab her, and take her back to Hogwarts.

"Are you there?" She shouted to the closed door. No one answered. She gulped and took a deep breath before placing a hand on the latch. Her heart was pounding in her throat, making it increasingly difficult to take each successive breath. One, two, three!

Nothing. Nothing but brief silence and the feeling of cold air on her back.

"Really, a 'bastard' is a rather harsh word for a television character you know?" The voice cut through her like the icy wind pouring in through the gaping front door. _I closed that...I know I did._ She spun around quickly and ran towards the front door. Something struck her and she impulsively slammed the door. That voice could only belong to one person.

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**A/N:** I love you all. And you're looking marvelous today! Have I ever told you that? (points to lovely reviewers) No it's not like I'm just buttering you up for reviews or anything. Although maybe I am…Thank you to those who have so far!

By the way, wrong time to mention – but I've never ever been to a wedding…so some of that was made up from movies – if I'm seriously off on something, let me know. (My cousin is getting married in June! That will be my first)

Chapter 3 coming up:D It's not _quite_ what you think ;) Or maybe it is, I can't see inside your brains.


	3. Unwelcome Houseguests

**Authors Note:** Alright. You hate cliffies don't you? Time to continue – DA da da da! The first actually (completely) new chapter of this story. The last was half new/ half old. 

So now I'm confused, are soap operas good or bad? I've never seen them, but my cousins (who watch the soap network ALL THE TIME) were having a mini-discussion about one of their shows. It was a parody of my own family. XD

**Disclaimer**: Still not mine.

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**Chapter Three: Unwelcome Houseguests**

The sight made her go ghostly pale. Her mouth dropped open, then shut, then open again.

"Close your mouth Hermione, you look like a fish." He joked uneasily. "An armed fish."

"Ron!" Hermione gasped, gripping the edge of the counter until her knuckles turned white. "What the – why on earth are you here?" Her face lit up for a moment; it was a pleasant surprise. Then a second thought hit her and her glee turned to anger. "Ron, get out of my house!"

"Put down the knife Hermione! What are you going to do, stab _me_ - one of your old mates?" She looked somewhat stunned. She forgot that was still holding a large knife. She quickly placed that on the countertop. She stared dumbfounded at her old friend. The tall redhead was not quite as gangly looking as he was at seventeen. He had filled out somewhat, and become more muscular, but still overall very thin. _What kind of work does he do now? _She wondered. He still had that same boyish face and long nose spattered with a shock of freckles. As she thought about it, they had both probably changed a lot in seven years. She began to wonder what everyone else looked like. She quickly cleared that thought. She did not want to see any of them, and now she had to deal with Ron Weasley.

"Pleasure to see you too Hermione." He chided, putting his arms out in front of him and casually brushing the snow off his jacket. His clothing looked surprisingly normal for the most part, besides the wand sticking out of the back pocket. "It's been only – what – seven years?"

"Ron?" She wanted to ask him a million questions, but all she could manage to say was his name.

"Nice place you have here."

"Ron."

"It has a kinda cozy feel to it." He continued, blatantly ignoring her. He walked around the house tracking wet, snowy footprints onto her freshly cleaned carpet – save for a few stray popcorn kernels that took flight when Hermione jumped earlier.

"Ron!" Steam was about to come out of her ears.

"Yes?"

"Shut up and stop trying to make small talk. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Playing mail carrier. You haven't read your letters." He answered calmly. "I found these in the garbage outside – unopened." He pulled out a stack of stiff, icy letters out of his jacket pocket and shoved them into her arms. "Oh wait, that's right, you don't associate with _us._" He finished with biting cruelty.

"You were going through my garbage?" She questioned, tossing the freezing envelopes onto the table.

"You're not going to read them now?" Ron speculated. "Hermione, they're important dammit!"

"No. Is that what you came for?" She paced around the kitchen and rummaged through drawers until she produced a small silver cigarette lighter.

"You have a putter-outer too? I always thought Professor Dumbledore's was extremely rare." Ron shouted in amazement, momentarily distracted from his detestable duty. She found Ron to be comparable to a two year old, easily sidetracked by small, shiny objects.

"It's not a putter-outer. It's a common household device that _you_ wouldn't know about."

"That's not fair. Just because I don't know what your clicky, silver thing does - " He trailed off and watched as Hermione fumbled around with it, clicking a small button and producing a flame. "It's a fire clicker!"

"It's going to be the click of death for these letters."

"Go ahead. If that would make you happy." He said acidly, snapping back to the angry Ron she had seen a few moments earlier. Taking a seat at her kitchen table, he watched her, almost daring her to burn the letters. "Always taking the easy way out, now?" Seven years of anger were slowly simmering to the surface.

"Who said this is easy?" Hermione felt a sudden pang of guilt as old memories washed over her. It was something in his tone that set her off these thoughts, like an old movie film. Ron's icy glare hacked through her like a knife. He would not forgive her. Ever. Everything muddled together into an indecipherable blur of motions, sounds, and lights. He had been trying to be nice to her when he had no reason to. _Well sort of nice. _Technically, she was the enemy. He should rip her head off her shoulders and feed her to the dementors. Cold, dark, painful memories filled her mind. She could feel the dementors coming closer by the second. Their haunted voices shrieked, _Murderer! _She tried to shut off the thoughts, but the ethereal voices echoed in her head like grating metal, sending shivers down her spine.

"Hermione, make this as painless as possible. Come with me to the Ministry. We need you. Harry wants to see you." He pleaded, trying to make his voice sound calm. She could hear the hateful undertone. His voice no longer sounded heartfelt. He was merely a puppet carrying out Harry's orders. He had always been in the shadow of the Boy-Who-Lived.

She glared daggers at Ron. She left for a reason, and here he was, ruining her life just when things were going right. Her mind seized with panic. _They will kill me. _"I'm not coming!" Hermione shouted rather childishly. She tried desperately to push away the matter at hand. "Who is this _we_? You don't need me."

Ron looked blankly up at her from his seat at the table. "Do you think I want this? Stop wallowing in the past and do something about it." He paused for a second before shouting, "Stop being a coward!"

"Do _NOT_ call me a coward Ronald Weasley!"

His face was beet red. "You're just sitting here feeling sorry for yourself. Everyone is sorry! Trust me! I'm more sorry than _ANYONE_ that things turned out as they did!" He was simply livid. "You weren't the only one to screw up Hermione Granger!"

"Except I made the biggest screw up of all! Getting involved in all of this in the first place!" She threw the lighter at Ron and ran down across the hall to her bedroom. Ron guiltily followed her and stopped outside of the locked door. He was not sure why he felt responsible. After all she had done, he had every right to hate her. And then she left. He had to pick up the mess alone. Seven years had given him just enough time to forget that he had a best friend, but that was only temporary. Soon enough, this time was bound to come, where he would have to see her again. And she was his best friend. Best friends deserve second chances. He sighed loudly. Seven years – it seemed like yesterday – and seventy years would never be long enough to erase all memory of the past.

"Open up." He spoke evenly and calmly.

"No!"

"I can apparate…"

"Not in here you moron!" She shrieked.

"I am coming in on the count of three."

"Ron!"

"One…"

"Ron!"

"Two…"

"I will kill you Ron Weasley. Don't think I won't." He paused for a second. _Murderer_ rang out in her head. Her thoughts were swimming around frantically. _This is your fault. You are a coward. _

"Two and a half…"

_Never_. She ran to the door trying to clear her head. "Three!" Hermione shouted and slammed the door open into his stomach, causing Ron to double over in pain. Panting and catching his breath, Ron caught up to her.

"Hermione, I'll be the first to admit that meeting Harry and me on the train probably got you involved in way more than you could have possibly imagined. But you can't discredit seven years of your life. Hogwarts is part of you. You're a witch." He sounded frustrated. "How can I make you understand? Tell me."

"Who asked me if I wanted to be a witch?" She had a perfectly normal Muggle life, just like she was always supposed to. She had a job, and a house, and a half-witted but very charming Muggle boyfriend, and she could be there for her family. Her _Muggle _family. She was going to be married. She was going to have kids, and be a mum. Everything was ruined. Yet again, it felt as if the "real world" had been put on hold. "I wasn't asked Ron. I was told. And it came as quite a shock to my family. Why didn't anyone ask me?"

"That's something we're both wondering right about now." He breathed hard, trying to calm himself. "Please Hermione. For me."

It was a mixture of guilt and respect that caused her to reluctantly nod her head. If anything, she owed this to him, as a friend. She knew this could not be put off anymore. Eventually the Ministry had to catch up to her, and now was time.

"C'mon now, truce?"

"If you stop all of this magic talk."

"I'll do what I can for now. Someone's going to need to update you though." He reached his hand out to put it on her shoulder, almost comfortingly. She was afraid despite his caring action. A nagging voice in her head said _RUN! Leave while you still can. _He leaned in close to her but instead quickly whipped his hand back and grabbed her arms.

"What are you doing?" She interrogated.

"Taking you with me."

"People will look for me! This is kidnapping!"

"You would have to be a kid for that. Gosh, what a brain you are." She screamed but the sound could only be heard for a second. With a _pop_, the two disappeared leaving a very empty living room. The fire still crackled. There was a dim glow in her bedroom, like a faint firefly trapped beneath a heavy object on her desk. The picture in its frame emitted a faint beam of light. The Hermione in the picture stopped scowling and the look in her eyes seemed to say _Welcome back.

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_

**A/N:** Will sing for reviews. Don't make me do it. Please tell me what you think. You'll hear what Hermione did soon enough (evil grin). And I realized there's a chunk of dialogue that's missing from the middle of this - I tried to patch the edges as smoothly as possible and I'm reading and rereading my story to make sure I didn't lose anything essential - I guess if I end up editing something back in, I'll let you know but there doesn't seem to be an issue.

I know this is my shortest chapter yet (for the above reason) – they're getting longer as we go. I emailed the next group to my pseudo-beta (she's not really my beta, I've recruited her). I haven't gotten those back yet so there may be a day or two before chapter four. But I essentially sent her a quadruple length chapter – so based on where I see fit, that might get broken up to smaller pieces.


	4. Blast from the Past

**A/N:** I love you reviewers! Thank you for your loverly comments! I finished this one up between rehersals for my dance concert. Now I'll go soak my bruised-ness

**Disclaimer:** Manipulating characters is fun:D The HP characters belong to JKR, the rest belongs to my brain, which I'd like to keep intact and inside my head. Thanks!

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**Chapter Four: Blast from the Past**

Air rushed around in her in all directions. She tightly clutched onto Ron, afraid to let go. It had been a long time since Hermione had apparated. She felt like a little kid learning to ride a bike. How could she be helpful to the Ministry? She hated Ron for bringing her back, for rekindling her old curiosity, her desire to learn new spells, brew new potions, and create new things. She felt like an outsider looking in on a strange new world, everything was so familiar, yet so distant. This was her brief moment of peace. Very soon, she would be back among her old companions. There was so much to tell, but even more that she wanted to keep locked away in an unreachable place in the back of her mind. She could feel the strain on that tiny hiding space, threatening to explode. With another loud _pop _she was on solid ground. Around the two was a deserted town. Hermione looked around at the grungy old buildings. All of them looked exceptionally ordinary and shabby. They appeared to be in London, on a street she had been to before, but she knew she could not place it on a map.

"We've got to move." Ron muttered, taking her hand. Hermione tottered after him, down the street between two old office buildings. On the corner was a red telephone box. Ron glanced over his shoulder to check for company, and escorted Hermione into the booth. "Remember this?" He asked.

"Vaguely." She watched with interest as he dialed on the seemingly broken phone. From an invisible speaker, she could hear a witch's voice nasally asking them about their business.

"I'm with Miss Granger. Mr. Potter wished me to bring her here." A shiny visitor badge appeared. Ron handed it to Hermione. "You'll need this."

"They won't remember me?" She teased dryly.

"This is to make things official, so there's no question as to why you're here."

Meanwhile, the old telephone box had taken them underground into the Ministry. The doors opened and the pair entered the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The building that was once so splendorous had fallen into decay. The marble had cracked; the gilded fireplaces were murky and covered with thick soot; cobwebs were strewn across some of the doors. The entire place looked as though it had long been neglected.

"The Ministry isn't really used as a main headquarters anymore. We use it to meet in large groups. But it's too conspicuous to be a permanent command center."

"Do you still have family working here?"

Ron stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "Yes of course. Dad's still tinkering with his Muggle stuff. Percy's about, schmoozing anyone he thinks could give him power." They clicked down the hallway. They passed the occasional witch or wizard buzzing around with a roll of parchment. Some stopped to look at her. Others pretended not to notice. One thing was certain, whenever she saw a group of people gossiping, she always caught snatches of their conversation. The "traitor" was back. The "treasonist" had decided to grace them with her presence. They turned the corner into another hallway. Ron led her all the way to the other end, into a little office that looked somewhat like a closet.

"This is part of the low key thing isn't it? All these nice rooms and you pick the cupboard."

"Story time." Ron cut in. "Harry's not here right now, so I guess I get to update you myself. Let's put it this way, a lot of things have changed since you left. And a lot of things are still the same."

"There's a nice general statement."

"Shut up Hermione." He was losing patience. "Let me talk. Then you can add all the smart ass comments you want aright?" She took a seat in a poufy orange chair that Ron conjured up. "Voldemort is gone. Or at least, as we know him." That was a name she had not heard in a long time. "Harry managed to destroy the final horcrux soon after you left. The Death Eaters, however, are still here to some extent. Ginny's with them under the Imperious Curse." He swallowed hard. "Lucius Malfoy gave Draco a cushy position as his adviser. Daddy Malfoy's the one we have to watch out for now. It appears that Voldemort possessed him as a last resort, just before we destroyed the last horcrux. We didn't notice at first, we thought he was gone for good, but there are these striking similarities that made us wonder. It's mostly Lucius though. There was too little of Tom Riddle left at that point to do anymore to him than a personality change, but even that much has caused to Death Eaters to treat him as their new master. He's determined to take over the wizarding world once and for all. After Lucius – let's just say this cat will have used up all of its lives. In the state he's in, he's used up all of those horcruxes, and he can't make anymore. There's too little of him left." He stopped. Hermione stared at him. "Well, that's sorta it in a nutshell - " He trailed off.

"Wait! What happened to Ginny?" Hermione interrogated anxiously.

"Funny you should mention it. That whole Imperius Curse thing is controlling her – and I bet Draco Malfoy is behind it. I know he is. We've noticed that Malfoy seems to have a lot more information than he should, and he's using it to his advantage." He snapped furiously, spitting the name "Malfoy" as if it were poison. "Let's stop talking about that right now." He walked around impatiently. "Harry should be here. He's probably off on his dangerous mission in Ireland. He ended up becoming an Auror you know."

"Excellent." She smiled for a moment proud for her old companion. "What have you been up to?"

"Well. A few years ago I realized that I really did give old Trelawny a hard time…and I was thinking that maybe Divination - "

"You did not, you big fat liar!" She shouted animatedly.

"Of course I didn't!" Ron countered. He smiled and let out a short laugh. "Ughh! That lady is completely nutters. Still." He walked back over and pulled up a chair. "Well at one point I wanted to become a professional Keeper for the Chudley Cannons. That idea went down the drain. All the practicing, and waking up at insane hours of the morning, and traveling…and partying, and women – damn, maybe I should have done that." Hermione kicked him playfully. "The Canons never win – I'm still their biggest fan."

"Of course." She was glad that he seemed relaxed, even if only for a moment.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I went through the training and everything as Harry's partner as an Auror – since that's what I thought I wanted." He looked at the ceiling dazedly. "We went on this mission in Romania. Charlie helped us, since we needed dragons to help us get into this guy's lair." He smiled again. Hermione was ignoring the fact that his story was extremely vague. She was happy her friend seemed so excited. "I realized that dragons are wicked cool. So I guess I'm still an Auror, but I took the last year off as Charlie's little apprentice. I think maybe we can use the dragons to help us get Malfoy." He leaned back in the chair. _He still acts like a little kid, _Hermione thought. "What have you been up to, Miss-oh-so-normal Granger?"

"I'm an editor in London." She knew he would not know anything about the prestige of her job, so she kept it simple. "It's an important paper. Sort of like the _Daily Prophet._"

"Sounds important." He nodded. "Maybe you should talk to Luna, she took over her dad's job at the _Quibbler._" He smirked. "They need some decent editors."

"Not funny either Ron!" She sighed. Then laughed. "The _Quibbler _is still around?" He nodded. "Well things have changed for me a lot. I'm engaged - "

"You're what!" He stared in disbelief, wide-eyed. "When was this?" He demanded.

"A few months ago." She answered evenly. "I'm a girl, you know. I didn't think I had to remind you again."

"I know that! That's not what I meant." Suddenly there was knock at the door. "Come in." He said sternly. A thin witch with a long chestnut braid entered the room. "What is it Grace?"

"Mr. Potter won't be able to make it tonight. He suggested that we find Miss Granger someplace to stay."

"I've got it taken care of." He responded. "Thank you." She left silently.

"Ron," Hermione spoke evenly, without feeling, "Does everyone really hate me? You would tell me wouldn't you?"

He paused a moment, thinking about how to answer. "They hate the choice you made. I don't think they hate you." He bit his lip. Hermione nodded, seeming to take this in calmly. He inhaled sharply. "I was thinking, about where you should stay. I think you should meet the new owner of the _Quibbler_."

"You've got to be kidding. Ron that's not funny."

"I'm being serious. I spoke to her already; she said she could give you a room for a while. You two could catch up. And maybe talk about news-related things." He smirked.

"Weasley – I oughta - " She smiled. "That's very sweet of her. She used to be my friend too." She gave him a told-you-so expression.

"By the way, you might need this. In case she tries any voodoo on you." He pulled out an old, thin box. There it was – her old wand - vine wood with a dragon heartstring core. "It was in your old dorm. The girls gave it to me before graduation." She just looked at him, and then at the old gift. She gracefully toyed with the wand, twirling it between her fingers. She never did graduate from Hogwarts. She had been too humiliated.

They walked out to a fireplace in the hall (since the closet was not adequately equipped) and called on Luna before flooing Hermione over to her house.

Luna lived in a small flat with plain wood floors. Her interior decorating, on the other hand, was anything but plain. Big, bright flowered couches, vibrant curtains, and loud wallpaper gave Hermione's brain a major visual overload. Then Luna waltzed into the room with her familiar dreamy look, as if she were there by accident. Hermione immediately recognized her by her thin dirty blonde hair, and carrot earrings. "Welcome to my humble abode." Hermione looked around again at the colorful circus around her. "Make yourself at home. Would you like some radish tea?"

"Uh, sure." It should have been near five in the morning, but the clock on the wall said 10 at night. Luna looked at her languorously and whispered. "Over the years, the wizarding world has almost become in its own time zone. We tried so hard to keep the attacks here from reaching the Muggle world that we had to become a completely separate entity. It doesn't completely work, and people get confused when they walk one place and it's suddenly broad daylight. We're working on it."

"Oh." Hermione replied, confused. She learned the strangest things from Luna. She spent some time toying with the idea of walking from one street to another and being in different times. "How have you been Luna? I hear you own the _Quibbler _now?" She mentally kicked herself for saying that. She prepared herself for a very long-winded discussion.

"Yes I am." Luna replied simply. "I'm working on an excellent piece about the psychic powers of flobberworms. Did you know they can predict the weather? They wiggle one way when it's going to rain. And they do another kind of jiggle when it will be sunny. And they turn completely stiff when it's about to snow - "

"They're probably frozen." Hermione stated matter-of-factly. "Because it's that cold."

"That's a common theory." Luna responded nonchalantly. She looked as if she was about to say something, but she decided not to. She took the kettle off the stove and poured two cups of tea. Then she brought the steaming cups over to the sofa, where she offered one to Hermione and then they sat down. "Hermione, I know what's wrong." She shifted in her seat so she could look Hermione in the eyes.

"No you don't Luna."

"I know why you did what you did. I don't think it was right, but it's justified. Love is blind Hermione."

"And deaf, and stupid. Everyone told me I was making a mistake. I didn't realize it until everything hit the fan." She let the steam from the tea hit her face. Luna stared at her with an all-knowing look. "You know about-?" Hermione gazed at her in shock.

"I'm more perceptive than you think." She responded serenely. "They'll understand when you tell them. And if they don't that's because they're guys, and they're prats." Luna took a sip of her tea. Hermione glanced at her cup suspiciously. "Besides, I understand you. I've gotten used to the fact that people don't understand me."

Somehow that was not a very comforting statement. It was a double-edged knife. Luna's heart was in the right place, and she knew about how complicated Hermione's old feelings were, but then she went slammed herself headfirst into a brick wall. _Ouch. _Hermione smiled and held the cup in the air, like a sort of toast. Then she took a sip, and immediately remembered why she had regarded the tea so warily before. Her eyes burned and she forced the tar-like substance down her throat.

"Thank you Luna. Unfortunately it's more complicated than that. God I'm an idiot!" She put her hands up in the air, nearly spilling some of the radish tea. Unfortunately, not a drop was wasted.

"You'll be fine. Get some sleep. I made a bed for you down the hall to the left." Hermione thanked her and walked to the room with the cup. She poured the tea into a plant dish, desperately. The plant coughed and sputtered at her, creating a dramatic death scene in the hallway. _SHHH! _She tiptoed past the plant and crawled under the orange and green comforter in her bright yellow room. With the lights off, it was hard to tell that she was in something that looked like a small child's nightmare. She was way more tired than she thought, and she quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

**

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Hermione woke up the next morning to someone shaking her. "Wake up Hermione." The voice was soothing and misty. _Five more minutes Robert. Please stop bothering me. _"You need to go. Ron's here." The voice continued. _Ron? It's Robert. Not Ron…_Oh! Her eyes snapped open. Luna was hovering a few inches above her face. Hermione shrieked. "I just thought you'd want to know." She said hazily.

Hermione forced herself out of bed, with much effort. She did a double take after looking at the very vibrant room, and remembered she was at Luna's. The colors were beginning to give her a headache. To add to her troubles, she realized that did not have other clothes. Luna appeared to read her mind and pointed to the closet, offering her robes for Hermione to wear. She pulled out some black robes with red trimming and threw them on. The fabric was a billowy silk, so unlike normal Muggle clothing.

"Hermione!" Ron called from down the hall.

"Luna. What's going on? Did he say why he's here? Where does he wants me to go?" She was beginning to panic. She had just woken up and already the world was coming to an end.

"I think they're going to take you to headquarters." She replied calmly. Her tone was so peaceful that it irritated Hermione. "Something about a pensieve - "

"WHAT!" She screeched. _This is definitely not good. _

"Harry came back. They want to interrogate you. Do they know _anything_?" She looked at Hermione with interest.

"You know far more than they do." She stammered. "They're going to kill me."

"Relax." She grabbed Hermione's hands. "Breathe." There was silence. "Now you're going to go with Ron Weasley to Grimmauld Place and you're going to tell them the whole story. They'll understand, just like I do."

Hermione relaxed a little and paced the room a few times apprehensively before settling down. "Okay. Here goes." She turned on her heel and pushed open the bedroom door.

Ron was standing a few doors down the hall, leaning against the wall. "Are you ready? Nice robes. I'm sure that's not something your little Muggle friends would find in fashion." _Did anyone else notice that Ron goes through mood swings? _He was back to hating her again.

"You don't need to make this difficult Ron."

"You started it." He responded childishly. Then he turned serious. "We wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't insisted on giving up your roots – backstabbing your friends – fraternizing with our enemies - "

"How dare you! I could just leave you empty-handed. Then you would have to explain to your 'master', Mr. Harry Potter, why you came back without me." She stomped in the opposite direction.

He ran behind her and grabbed her hands. "I'm sorry Hermione, you're making this hard." She tried to apparate out of there, but she could not focus her thoughts fast enough. Hermione Granger, the best witch of her age, was truly out of practice with magic. _"Expelliarmus!" _Her wand soared out of her hand and onto the ground. Ron put his foot on it. Luna came out of the bedroom and put it in Ron's pocket. "Thanks Luna."

"You can do it Hermione." She encouraged her friend.

Ron and Hermione stumbled awkwardly over to the fireplace. He still had her arms latched behind her back. "Harry's got this passage open for now. We've got to hurry." He looked at her for a second, and let go to grab the floo powder off the mantle. Hermione looked resigned and did not move. He threw in a handful causing the flames to turn emerald green. Number twelve Grimmauld Place!" The flames leapt higher. He put his hand on her shoulder, and pulled her in after him.

After a few dizzying moments, they shot out of the fireplace into the main room of the old Black estate. She remembered that it became Harry's after Sirius' death. They had abandoned it after Dumbledore's death, worried that the Fidelius Charm was gone. "I thought we couldn't use this place anymore?"

"McGonagall helped restore the charm. I don't know all the details." He stammered. Hermione was sure that was not true. She did not have long to think though.

"For Merlin's Sake! Hermione Granger!" The cheery face of Mrs. Weasley bounced over to greet them. "It's been so long! How have you been?" She seemed happy. On second glance, she seemed very troubled. Hermione could see the worry in her eyes. _It is because of her daughter; she's worried about Ginny. She does not seem mad at me. _

"_Mum." _He looked at her, annoyed. "Harry needs to see her. Remember?" He gave his mother a pointed glance.

"Of course." She looked more solemn. "Hermione will explain everything to him, he'll see it's not that bad." _Was she in denial? _Hermione was a bit perplexed; maybe she did not know what happened. She was surprised Luna understood, but she would have been downright shocked if Mrs. Weasley knew as well.

Ron stared at his mother, dumbfounded. "Of course, Hermione will straighten everything out. Come along Miss Granger." He added silkily. Hermione hated that conceited tone. They walked along a hallway toward a large room at the end. Ron stopped a small, younger witch Hermione did not recognize and asked that she keep other people out of the drawing room.

They entered the drawing room. Large curtains framed the full picture window. The cabinets with dark items had covers over them, since they refused to be removed. They had placed a large mahogany table in the middle. This looked to be the main meeting room. At the head of the table sat the person Hermione could recognize anywhere. She did not have to search for the lightning scar like other people. He had grown a little more, but he was still not nearly as tall as Ron. He had become more muscular probably as a result of his Auror work. As they neared his side of the table, she could see the same intent green eyes, thin face, and a bit of stubble. He probably had not shaved in a few days.

"Hermione." He said simply. "Welcome back." He smiled a little and almost hugged her, but something seemed to be holding him back. "I'd love to see how things have been going with you, but we've got slightly more pressing matters." His semi-compassionate face became immediately stern. It was as if someone had come over to remind him that he and Hermione were not on speaking terms. Hermione became increasingly aware of the fact that Ron still was holding onto her arm. "Like what happened seven years ago for instance?" He threw that in casually "It appears that something happened back then that we need to help us. Ron and I have done all we can, we need your input. Besides, _you_ have a little more information about the dark side than we have, don't you?"

Hermione could feel her face burning. She was furious, and she felt as if the years of pent up rage were about to explode. "Well?" Hermione struggled out of Ron's grip. "You needed me? Should I get up on a flagpole and be the Muggle bait? Let's lure the little pureblood lovers, now shall we?"

"Not exactly." Harry responded coolly. "And you're still a witch Hermione."

"Well, what then? Why did you bring me back here!" She fumed, slamming both hands onto the table in front of him.

"Calm down 'Mione. We need your help." Ron jumped in.

"_HER_mione." She corrected. "What kind of help are you looking for Harry? I told you, I am through."

"I'm sorry you feel that way." He said simply. Seven years had given him the graceful arrogance of a confident leader. She suddenly hated him for being so very calm and emotionless. "We all need you, whether _you _like it or not."

"Which means…"

"We have to go back in your memories to the last time you used magic." He turned to look at her face. She was both furious and horrified. He pushed a jet-black strand out of his eyes and fussed through the newer looking cabinets for his pensieve. Ron pulled out a chair and Hermione went to it reluctantly.

"I consider this a major invasion of privacy!" Hermione shouted. "I'm here now, that's what matters. I can tell you what happened." She sat down in a huff.

Harry considered his old friend for a few moments. Here she was, defiant, determined, and stubborn, just as she always had been. She was wearing that same face he remembered when she was searching for something in the library to help them solve a mystery. Her appearance had not aged a day, but she looked wiser. "Hermione, you left us with some terrible impressions of someone we thought was our friend. I'll forgive you if I can see this was a mistake as you say." He closed the cabinet and shuffled over to a closet, when he opened the door, the ceiling flooded with silver light. Ron flicked a switch and pulled the curtains shut, making the room very dark. The shining light of the pensieve reflected off Harry's glasses and hard features, illuminating the faint lightning scar on his forehead. He picked up the shallow basin, and carried it to her table.

Hermione felt as if she was going to cry. She could never cry, not here in front of them. She stooped so low as to make even her best friends hate her. _How could I be so stupid! __And now they will know why. _She looked over at Ron; he was leaning against the opposite wall with just the faintest light of the pensieve hitting him. The silver light made his shock of red hair look even more vibrant. He had an angry and threatening look to his face. He would kill her. She face felt extremely hot and she could feel her eyes begin to burn as the tears well up. She hoped to God that it was too dark to see her face.

"Concentrate Hermione." Harry whispered. He held his wand out, about to extract her memory, and then he stopped and seemed to ponder something. "Ron, maybe we should make this a collective memory. We could all put our thoughts in - "

"Sure. Good idea. Full picture." The redhead mumbled back, walking toward the table. Harry pointed the wand to his own head, and pulled a thin silvery thread. He brought the thread into the basin and Hermione watched the misty water swirl and change colors. Taking his cue, Ron whipped his wand out of his pocket, concentrated hard for a moment, and drew another silvery thread. He added his to the mix, causing the water to change to a vibrant blue before settling.

"Concentrate." Harry repeated. He brought the wand to her forehead a second time.

Ron stared blankly as Harry took the memory from her with some effort. By the silvery light, he could see Hermione's eyes shining with tears. "Hermione?" Ron's hard features softened for a second, and he almost looked remorseful.

"Here goes." Harry's voice cut in. They approached the basin. The light was blinding. As their eyes started to adjust, Hermione could make out the shapes of her two old friends. Harry tilted the basin just slightly.

Ron quickly glanced at Hermione. "I'm sorry." Hermione mouthed back. Then the mist surrounded them, as they fell headfirst into their memories. _God, let him forgive me._

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**A/N:** I'm so mean :P - I gave you a long chapter this time. Ron's brief description may not make sense right now but I'll explain it better later.

Comments welcome always:D


	5. Strangers

**A/N:** Rewritten chapter - there's a whole lot more tagged onto the end than the cliffhanger I left before. I'll try to get the whole next chapter up within the week. Flashbacks are in _italics_, the trio in current time is regular print. I changed this chapter a lot recently when my proofreading friend informed me that I forgot Harry was not returning to Hogwarts. I wrote this pre HP6 but since I had problems with the inaccuracies, I rewrote the whole flashback so that he was not in school with them. Let me know if I left anything silly - Harry appearing for a single line out of nowhere.

Hermione: Ron! We must get help!

Harry: Yes we must!

Ron: Where the hell did you come from mate?

Harry goes POOF!

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**Chapter Five: Strangers**

_With a thud, Hermione hit the cold stone floor. She felt incredibly dizzy and her head ached from where she hit the edge of a banister. Her eyes were recovering from the blinding light of the pensieve and she could scarcely make out a few couches, a crackling fire, and the red and gold decorations of the room around them. She was in the old, familiar Gryffindor common room. Harry and Ron landed with more grace and stood on the opposite side of the room against the wall. They watched the scene with great interest and moved behind two seventeen year old boys playing wizards chess. Two large, blank scrolls of parchment laid next to the board, near the unopened books they needed to write their Transfiguration essays. The redheaded boy watched his knight annihilate his opponent's poor, helpless pawn. _

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed. "Neville looks like he's actually winning-"

"_Ron, Neville!" A younger, very energetic Hermione burst into the room. "Come quick! The whole DA is meeting. Something happened." She stared at them with wide-eyed impatience. _

"_Check." Neville cut in. _

_Ron reached across the table and took Neville's king hostage. "Checkmate. C'mon!" They scooted off of the couch and through the portrait hole with great haste. _

"You can't do that!" Harry whined playfully. Ron kicked him back. "C'mon Hermione!" The two boys raced ahead of her after the three students. She took another look around the empty common room before following the mass of people to the Room of Requirement. Ron seemed to be waiting for her in the hall and Harry paced around, deep in thought.

"Harry, you're about two months early." Ron interjected. "I remember this meeting clearly."

"There's something here Ron, I know it. We've gone over this scene many times but we've never had Hermione here. Bear with me okay?" They slipped quietly into the dimly lit DA headquarters where a group of students huddled together whispering quietly.

"_What's going on now?" Their young, new leader interrogated the crowd. Ron had taken over the DA in Harry's absence. Their friend was off hunting horcruxes and promised to notify his friends in due time for help. _

_A tall boy cleared his throat. "Luna and I were out on the grounds when we were confronted by Malfoy. He threatened us and showed us some locket of significance. We told McGonagall about both Malfoy and the locket but she's convinced that his locket is fake and he's using it to taunt us." _

"_What did it look like Luna?"_

"_A small, thin silver locket with an engraved S on a delicate chain." Luna recalled. "It looks so much like the pictures from the library books, it has to be real." _

_Younger Ron pushed himself into the foreground. "You realize this also means that Malfoy's back and he's looking for something from us. He wouldn't just show us the locket without some kind of intention. He's up to something." _

"_Or he's just tormenting us – trying to send us on a wild goose chase." Hermione stated matter-of-factly. "We've seen fakes before. I'd have to see the locket to believe it." _

"_Do you think this means Snape's back too?" Ginny queried. _

The older Ron looked at the mirage of his sister affectionately. It had been years since he had last seen her and this was as close as he could get to the real thing. He wanted to hug her but he could not move himself from his spot on the wall. He was too afraid to touch her – afraid of seeing his hand slip right through her. It was painful for her to be so close without being able to truly reach her.

"_I wouldn't doubt it." His young counterpart replied to his little sister, placing a hand on her shoulder_.

Ron could feel a knot in the pit of his stomach. Hermione could see that he did not want to watch, but Harry was so insistent.

"_We're gonna be on the lookout." _

"_Does Harry know?" Ginny continued. "We need to tell him somehow." _

"_We will." Ron reassured her. _

_The mind of seventeen-year-old Hermione was flooded with a multitude of different thoughts varying from her recently completed Charms essay to Malfoy to a certain boy she had a crush on in seventh year. Hermione had a brief period of time where she thought she really like Dean, but she had since moved on. Sure she liked Ron as a friend, but she really missed Harry. Even when everything bad seemed to be happening to him, he knew what to do. Ron's attempt to replace Harry in the DA was not convincing. _

The older Hermione sighed as she watched the young, lovesick version of herself. She learned the hard way that things would never work between her and Harry. She wondered if anything would spark upon returning to the wizarding world a few days ago, but so far, she hated Harry for bringing her here to the pensieve. _Why couldn't I realize that then? Before it became too late. _

_Ginny had been seeing a certain Slytherin boy in her year despite scolding remarks by all of her peers. "He's just so charming!" Ginny always bubbled. She met him in her Potion's class last year and he helped her "study" the wonderful art form that was brewing magical concoctions. Their late night "study sessions" had not gone unnoticed by Hermione. She had always wondered if Arnold had used some sort of love potion on her, they seemed a very unusual couple. At the same time, she was happy Ginny had found someone. Ginny would tell the other Gryffindors, "I can't help it if our guys aren't mature enough." And with that she would haughtily stride down the Slytherin corridor and meet up with Arnold. Ron was furious that his sister would dare date a Slytherin, and he positively fumed when he saw her sister run off again like she always did. _

"_You're a loyal one aren't you sis?" Ron shouted. _

"_That's a Hufflepuff's job!" Ginny snapped back. "You're not the boss of me."_

"_Ron, don't you have detention with McGonagall?" Hermione chided trying to distract her friend. _

"_Bugger. I do don't I." Ron exasperated look said all. "She's trying to torture us isn't she? This is for not completing the last Transfiguration essay. And if I don't get back I won't finish the current one either." He let out a long breath. "Better not lose more points for being late now. I'll see you later." _

The two older men came over to Hermione and followed her and her memory back to the Gryffindor common room.

"I think McGonagall though she could keep us safe by making us stay in seventh year an extra five years." Ron snickered.

"Here's Hermione's memory now." Harry said trying to act serious.

_Hermione sat at the table, opened up some books and marked the pages the boys would need for their essay. She had always been against cheating on schoolwork, but she did feel sorry for the boys and figured it was the least she could do. _

"Aww. Thanks 'Mione!" Ron cut in. Hermione shot him a superior look. Around them the scene faded. First all of the color drained out of the room, and then the surroundings grew dimmer until they were standing in a pitch-black room.

"I fell asleep." She answered to their puzzled looks. "Shut up Ron." He closed his mouth. He had been about to remark. They could hear a voice calling from the blank space around them. Then the world came back into focus. "No more comments alright. Promise?" They nodded.

"_Hermione wake up!" Ginny whispered harshly. "There's someone outside the portrait hole. I heard people coming as I was getting back." _

_Hermione rubbed her eyes and pushed herself off of the couch with much difficulty. "Have you seriously been with Arnold this whole time?" She yawned. "What time is it?" The dusty twilight sky outside showed it to be just before dawn. _

_In the meantime, Ginny had run upstairs and grabbed Ron's invisibility cloak. Harry had purchased another one as a gift to his friend before leaving. Hermione picked her wand off the table and pulled the cloth hastily over the two of them. They leaned into the portrait hole and heard muffled voices. _

"_Well if Harry isn't going to cooperate with us, there are other ways to convince him." The voice was whispering and Hermione was unable to distinguish the voice's owner. _

"_What do we have to do sir?" _

_The whispering became even quieter. Ginny leaned in so that her ear was touching the thick fabric. The fat lady started giggling and shouting about how ticklish she was. The two figures in the hallway took off at a run. _

"_Let's go!" They shot out of the portrait hole and ran down the hall in a clumsy fashion. Hermione eventually threw off the cloak and just ran along next to Ginny so that she could keep up. _

"_They split up!" The invisible voice of Ginny called from ahead. She was definitely faster than Hermione. _

"_I'll take the left, you take the right!" Hermione called back. She heard the footsteps of Ginny click away down one corridor to the stairs toward the dungeons. Hermione ran the opposite direction. She hopped down several flights of stairs toward the Great Hall. As she was approaching the main hallway, she saw the large wooden front doors blow shut. She ran through the doors and out onto the lawn. She could feel trickling rain slapping against her face. A figure in black darted ahead of her towards Hagrid's pumpkin patch. She chased after it, her tired legs beginning to ache. She hoped Ginny was around somewhere. The grass was very slippery and hard to run through. They raced around the hut towards the woods. _

_There was no moon. They sky was darker than she had ever seen it. Thick clouds obscured the dark twilight sky. The rain was coming down harder. Raindrops trickled down her face into her eyes and she had to keep wiping them away with her already soaked sleeves. She ran through the pumpkin patch, accidentally kicking a large pumpkin in the process. Hagrid would forgive her for that. _

"_Lumos!" Her wand tip lit up as she headed into the haunted forest. She could hear crackling noises of twigs under feet, but it was too impossibly dark to tell where the figures were. She was not sure why they would be running. What did they have to be afraid of? Hermione should have been afraid. She quickly realized that she could be putting herself in danger and extinguished the wand. She kept running forward, listening for anything that would alert her to the whereabouts of another person. Thunder cracked loudly overhead. A blinding flash of light lit up the forest for a split second, allowing Hermione to run to a clearer area. Then it was dark again. _

_A stinging pain shot up Hermione's arm as she slammed into a living object of some sort. She heard her cloak rip and could feel warm blood trickling down her sleeve. She felt something wrap around her leg and she quickly fended it off with her wand. The limbs of the whomping willow thrashed around wildly. She heard a scream from the opposite side. Ducking the blows she ran around the tree. She knew that voice and she was going to find him. Her sopping wet clothing clung to her body and weighed her down. She threw off her heavy black cloak and continued running while brushing her soaked chestnut hair out of her face. _

_The footsteps were gone. She stopped and strained her ear to hear something, anything. She was answered by the chirp of crickets and the hoot of owls. The figure she had been running after must have stopped moving. She walked forward quietly. A few short crackling noises cut through the silence then stopped. Hermione shot behind what appeared to be a normal tree. The noises were coming closer, in short bursts. Then she saw a bolt of red light so bright that it lit up the forest. It was like no lightning she had ever seen. She could see the black outlines of the trees transposed against the blood red sky. Ahead, the figure of a man stood defiantly and gave out a low laugh. She tried to duck but he saw her. He whipped out his wand. _

"_Alone Mudblood?" He continued. "Whatever will you do without Potty and Weasel to save you?" He held his wand in front of his face as he walked closer to her. _

"_What do you want Malfoy!?" She shrieked at him. _

"_I don't know why you're even asking Granger." _

_Her heart pounded in her chest and she could feel it in her throat. The hot rain beat mercilessly down on the two figures alone in the woods. "Expelliarm-" She could feel some force grab her tightly and throw her to the floor of the forest. All of the air was knocked out of her lungs and the surroundings went black for a moment. She tried to open her eyes and stand up again but her surroundings were very hazy. She scurried over to her displaced wand as the world slowly came back into focus. _

"_I'm here to make a deal with you Granger." _

"_Why on earth would I agree to do something like that?" Hermione screamed. _

"_Because I'm going to help you get the last horcrux." He answered casually. _

"_I don't need your help."_

_Malfoy walked closer to her. Hermione was just about to shout another spell at him but something made her stop. "Granger, you're a very smart witch. Some day you're going to do something really great for this world." Hermione stared at him for a minute. He gave her a coolly defiant smile. "Aren't you sick of being a mudblood Granger? I mean, aren't you sick of being treated like a mudblood?" _

"_You arrogant little-"_

"_But seriously. You're never going to be appreciated where you are. Harry's so preoccupied with saving the world. Ginny gets to join him on the adventures while you stay behind at Hogwarts. And Ron is head of the DA. Where does that leave you Granger?"_

"_I help my friends." Hermione had lowered to a normal speaking volume, but every word was still dripping in acid. "I'm needed at Hogwarts." _

"_It's silly for all your talent to go to waste. You help me, I'll help you."_

_"So your locket WAS a fake..." _

_"Very good Granger, I knew you were smart. As if I'd really be here if I actually had the last horcrux."_

"_How are you going to help me Malfoy?" She whipped her wand out and pointed it straight into his throat. Instead of pulling away like she expected, he took a step closer to her, gripped the end of the wand so that it didn't jab him when he approached and moved his face so it was just an inch away from hers. _

"_I know where the last horcrux is, but not how to get it. That's where you're unusually large brain comes in." He whispered. "Come on Granger. If you're going to turn me into toast do it already." She pressed the wand into his throat harder, causing him to clench up his face for a moment. "I'm not stopping you." He was breathing on her face, which was rather uncomfortable, but moving away would be giving him a chance to escape. This couldn't be as bad as it seemed. On first glance, she'd be betraying her friends. But Hermione's brain was going a million miles a minute. This would be the perfect way to spy on Malfoy, to keep him away from Harry. If she could get the final horcrux, Harry could rejoin them for good. He could rejoin her for good. This whole war would be over. She only needed to know where it was. She was smarter than Malfoy, and she'd find a way to take the horcrux. That would give her the chance to finally prove herself to the others. _

_Malfoy put his fingertip under the wand and pried it away from his neck. "So, you're considering?" _

"_I'll do it to end the war. Never for you." _

"_The war will end. And you'll be on the successful side. You'll see. Meet me tomorrow, midnight, at the edge of the forest. We'll get started." _

"_I'll be there Malfoy." With that, Draco Malfoy slipped silently away into the woods. _

"Bloody hell, what are you doing Hermione?" Ron whipped out his wand and pointed it straight at her. "I thought maybe he coerced you, but NO you walked willingly to him." His eyes became huge and protruded from either side of his freckled nose. "I was giving you the benefit of the doubt Hermione. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?" Ron's face twisted up and he looked somewhat deranged. She was extremely foolish to believe that Ron would ever understand why she acted as she did. Ron was always so immature, as if he'd ever understand something like love.

"Ron I can explain! It's not what it seems!"

"I don't need you to explain! You joined Malfoy and nearly killed my little sister." He was screaming at her. "We don't need her Harry." He lifted his wand to her forehead. Even though Ron could let his rage get the better of him, she didn't think he would do anything. Unless he was being really rash…

"Drop the wand Ron!" Harry screamed. "This isn't over yet." For a brief moment, Hermione could see the same boy that she fell in love with in their sixth year. After everything she had been through, things could never be the same between them.

"There are still more memories to sift through." Harry continued, breaking the awkward silence he had caused. Ron reluctantly lowered his wand.

_Things could never be the same between any of them. _

* * *

**A/N: **Please tell me what you think:) See that little box down there? It's calling you...

And clearly I'm not going to finish this before HP7 comes out...I'm so excited for the book though! This story is going to be reather AU very soon.

The "Ron has mood swings" comment from the last chapter actually has a story behind it. A friend did a sort of beta reading of this chapter for me before I posted it, and she asked me whether or not I purposely portrayed Ron with major PMS. I didn't notice it at first – but it was funny, so I put in the part about his mood swings. So I've decided, all flames will be dealt with by the moody, PMS-ing Ron. He doesn't seem to realize that he shouldn't have that problem. Poor ickle Ronnikins!


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